In a retrospective study of the real-world use of idecabtagene vicleucel reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hansen et al found that response rates and toxicity in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma were comparable to those in the pivotal phase II KarMMa trial; the...
In a retrospective, observational case series study reported in JAMA Oncology, Emile et al identified changes in the stage at diagnosis, treatments, and outcomes in U.S. patients with rectal adenocarcinoma diagnosed between 2004 and 2019. Study Details The study used National Cancer Database data...
Rachna T. Shroff, MD, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the SWOG 1815 study, which compared gemcitabine, cisplatin, and nab-paclitaxel vs gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with newly diagnosed, advanced biliary tract cancers. Although adding...
A new ASCO guideline on opioids in managing pain from cancer or cancer treatment in adults provides recommendations on administering them in the midst of interventions to address the public health crisis from their misuse and related deaths across the country.1 “ASCO took wonderful leadership in...
Northwell Health recently appointed Douglas Gladstone, MD, a leader in hematology and medical oncology, as Chief of Hematologic Malignancies at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Northwell, Dr. Gladstone served for 14 years as Clinical Director of the outpatient bone marrow...
Yale Cancer Center’s Annual Conclave, held on January 5, recognized the scientific and clinical accomplishments of the Center’s faculty and staff in 2022. Eric Winer, MD, hosted the event and presented research awards in four categories: The Yale Cancer Center Population Science Research Prizes...
On December 1, 2022, the IDH1 inhibitor olutasidenib was approved for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1 The FDA simultaneously approved the Abbott...
Offering their thoughts on the study by Williams et al from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort were Jane N. Winter, MD, Immediate Past President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD. Both moderated press briefings where the results were presented or discussed....
Long-term follow-up of survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort showed signs of “epigenetic accelerated aging,” and many of these survivors had signs of neurocognitive impairment by their late 30s, researchers reported at the 2022 American Society of Hematology...
Initial data from the global phase III SPOTLIGHT trial could herald the use of a new targeted agent for a subset of patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. First-line treatment with zolbetuximab, which targets the transmembrane protein claudin 18.2...
In a phase II study (FOENIX-CCA2) published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lipika Goyal, MD, and colleagues found that the next-generation, covalently binding FGFR1-4 inhibitor futibatinib showed activity in previously treated patients with unresectable or metastatic FGFR2-altered...
The next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared with ibrutinib, with an improved cardiac safety profile, in the first head-to-head comparison between these two BTK inhibitors in relapsed or refractory chronic...
On October 21, 2022, tremelimu-mab-actl was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in combination with durvalumab in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on a comparison of overall survival in the...
“Standard treatment of older or less fit adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is now venetoclax/azacitidine, which has been shown to improve overall survival vs azacitidine monotherapy. Since that backbone was established, there has been a tsunami of trials looking at drugs added to this...
Insights on findings from the phase II MonumenTAL-1 trial1 were offered by Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Medical Director of the Winship Data and Technology Applications Shared Resource, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School ...
“These results [from the TRIO-US B-12 TALENT trial] are exciting and impressive in HER2-low, hormone receptor–positive patients. The authors were testing the waters and got a positive signal,” said Jason Aboudi Mouabbi, MD, a medical oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. “The beauty of ...
In the phase I/II MonumenTAL-1 trial, the novel bispecific antibody talquetamab produced responses in more than 70% of heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma.1 Of note, the safety profile confirmed results of the phase I portion of the study (recently published in TheNew England Journal...
Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and caregivers have helped secure medical coverage and financial compensation for individuals who were exposed to Ground Zero and consequently developed uterine cancer, including endometrial cancer—according to a new, final rule added to...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Coleman et al found that neoadjuvant split-dose gemcitabine and cisplatin produced a high rate of pathologic response in patients with high-risk localized upper tract urothelial carcinoma. The investigators also showed that...
Although longer follow-up is needed, the results of the three-arm randomized TRIANGLE study suggest that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib may replace autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) after chemoimmunotherapy in younger patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). ...
Although longer follow-up is needed, the results of the three-arm randomized TRIANGLE study suggest that the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib may replace autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) after chemoimmunotherapy in younger patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). ...
In the single-center phase III MIRAGE trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Amar U. Kishan, MD, and colleagues found that use of margin reduction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) resulted in significantly reduced acute genitourinary (GU) and...
Electronic nudges delivered to health-care clinicians based on a machine-learning algorithm capable of predicting mortality risk quadrupled rates of conversations with patients about their end-of-life care preferences, according to a new study published by Manz et al in JAMA Oncology. The study...
The American Cancer Society has released its Cancer Statistics 2023 report, which showed that overall cancer mortality has dropped by 33% since 1991, averting an estimated 3.8 million cancer deaths. Data in the report, which was published by Siegel et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, also ...
Researchers have developed and tested an artificial intelligence (AI) tool known as Sybil, which may accurately predict the risk of lung cancer for individuals with or without a significant smoking history using data from low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) scans, according to a new study...
“Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the paradigmatic success story in hematology,” said Joseph C. Alvarnas, MD, Professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant, Vice President of Government Affairs, and Chief Clinical Advisor for AccessHope at City of Hope...
The standard of care could be changing for adults with newly diagnosed BCR-ABL–negative B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who achieve measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity after induction chemotherapy. In the phase III E1910 trial by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, an...
In a study reported in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Ali et al found that U.S. sales of e-cigarettes have increased, marked by sales of products with higher nicotine strength, and that prices have increased for products with lower nicotine strength while decreasing or not significantly changing...
In recognition of continuing issues with the process of melanocytic pathology assessments, an expert panel of three dermatopathologists—with assistance from an expert team of researchers—has developed and now revised the Melanocytic Pathology Assessment Tool and Hierarchy for Diagnosis schema...
Researchers have discovered that severe inflammation may weaken the body’s ability to kill cancerous blood cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a new study published by Lasry et al in Nature Cancer. With bone marrow samples from 20 adults and 22 children with AML, the...
Research shows that pain is a common byproduct of cancer and its treatment, with approximately 55% of patients undergoing active treatment experiencing pain, and more than 66% of patients with advanced disease experiencing pain. According to the ASCO guideline on the use of opioids for adults with...
Fewer cases of melanoma were observed among individuals who regularly took vitamin D supplements than among those who did not take the supplements, according to a new study published by Kanasuo et al in Melanoma Research. Researchers also found that individuals taking vitamin D supplements...
Researchers have identified unique molecular features responsible for the development and progression of metastatic breast cancer, according to a novel study published by Garcia-Recio et al in Nature Cancer. They discovered that one of the key features involves changes in the immune system that are ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Erker et al identified factors associated with better postrelapse survival among infants and young children with medulloblastoma relapsing after initial craniospinal irradiation (CSI)-sparing curative-intent treatment. These factors included...
The adoptive T-cell receptor therapy afamitresgene autoleucel—which targets the MAGE-A4 cancer antigen—achieved clinically significant results for patients with multiple solid tumor types in a phase I clinical trial, according to a novel study published by Hong et al in Nature Medicine. Initial...
Researchers have found that measuring the activation of immune system B cells may be more effective than measuring the activation of either T cells or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in predicting whether patients with HER2-positive breast cancer will respond to treatment. These findings were ...
Investigators recently examined prostate cancer screening among primary care providers and found that screening tests were frequently used—even when they provide little value to patients, according to a new study published by Gillette et al in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine....
On January 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved FoundationOne Liquid CDx to be used as a companion diagnostic to identify patients with ROS1-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or NTRK fusion–positive solid tumors who do not have a tissue sample available and may be...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jayasekera et al identified the benefits and harms of using risk-reducing medication in addition to screening in patients with high-risk, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. As stated by the investigators, “Recent studies,...
Researchers have performed the first postmarkert analysis of a novel delivery system of mitomycin—a gel formation, also known as UGN-101—to treat upper tract urothelial cancers, according to a novel study published by Woldu et al in Urologic Oncology. Their findings showcase how the treatment is...
Seth Wander, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Mass General Cancer Center, Boston, commented on the findings of the EMERALD trial. “We have seen a large amount of new data emerging related to elacestrant and other novel SERDs [selective estrogen receptor degraders]. Despite initial expectations based...
Elacestrant—an investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD)—achieved longer progression-free survival vs standard-of-care endocrine monotherapy as second- or third-line therapy in patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer in the ...
Positive results were announced from the phase III IMerge trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02598661) evaluating the first-in-class telomerase inhibitor imetelstat in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who are relapsed, refractory, or ineligible for...
In an analysis from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Friedman et al found low rates of late mortality and subsequent malignant neoplasms in survivors of neuroblastoma treated in infancy. The risk of severe chronic health conditions decreased during...
World Cancer Day 2023 is now only 1 month away! Led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and organized annually on February 4, World Cancer Day is a global initiative to improve awareness and knowledge of cancer risks and better prevent, detect, and treat the disease. World Cancer...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Prudence A. Francis, MD, and colleagues, 12-year results of the phase III SOFT trial show a maintained disease-free survival benefit with the addition of ovarian function suppression to adjuvant tamoxifen in premenopausal patients with hormone...
In a Canadian phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Behroozian et al found that the use of Mepitel film—a silicone-based polyurethane film dressing—significantly reduced the incidence of grade 2 or 3 acute radiation dermatitis vs usual care in at-risk women receiving...
ASCO recently released an updated position statement on drug repository programs. The update shifts ASCO’s position to allow donation of oral cancer drug treatments in an open distribution system—which are drugs that have left the supply chain and have been dispensed to patients. ASCO’s previous...
Prior authorization is harming individuals with cancer, according to new survey results from ASCO. The survey found that prior authorization delays necessary care, worsens cancer care outcomes, and diverts clinicians from caring for their patients. Nearly all survey participants reported a patient...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and ASCO recently released a joint policy statement outlining the latest research on the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and recommendations for regulating these products to protect public health. The...